Fairy Gardens and Mushrooms and Gallivanting Around the Woods

There is something magical about moist & shady places. I’m in the woods a lot, photographing and looking at ginseng. During my wandering, I see so many little microhabitats with moss-covered rocks, cool shady spots – nooks that look like they could be fairy hangouts.

Christmas fern new fronds unfurling. Looks like a spot a fairy could call home, doesn’t it?

Imaginary Worlds … or Just the Unseen Worlds?

Add flowing trickles of water to the scene and even more citizens of the unseen world appear. Like sprites, nymphs, … and Water Priestesses.

Perhaps only those of us with overactive imaginations conjure up such imagery.

Or perhaps we’re just more receptive to knowing things that aren’t seen by humans.

Anyway, I’m far behind on many things, blog posting included. I’ve been too busy being influenced by the woodlands and immersing in the realm of fairies.

Projects Underway and Completed

Over the last few weeks, I’ve finished a drawing of a Water Priestess.

The second drawing in my “Rural Fantasy” series is “Water Priestess”.

I’ll use her image on note cards and other artsy-type products. The note cards are listed at Etsy, and the prints will soon be listed there, too. I’ve decided to see if I can reach a larger audience through Etsy because our little online shop here doesn’t get many visitors.

Fairy Gardens

In an attempt to bring some of the magic of the habitats I frequent out to the ordinary world, I’ve been making fairy gardens.

Our Fairy Gardens are available in round or teardrop globes.

I’ve been bringing these to the farmers market in downtown Rogers (AR), but also sell the DIY kits online through our shop. Might list those at Etsy too.

Fairy Garden Mushrooms

Then I thought some cute little mushrooms would go great inside them. So I started making and painting cute little mushrooms.

After all that, I decided I needed to refresh my Etsy shop and see if I can actually sell any of these creations. They’re all listed at our online shop and at Etsy.

More Gallivanting

We’ve also been working toward being legal, FDA-approved makers of our Shagbark Hickory Syrup. The next trip to the Arkansas Food Innovation Kitchen will result in our first commercially produced batch of syrup.

On our first trip for this project, we cleaned the bark. Before that we collected the bark, which involves visiting several shagbark hickory trees.

We don’t want to overharvest from any one tree, so we gallivanted around the woods gathering a little bit of bark from many trees.

In the end, we cleaned and processed about 7 lbs of bark. It took most of the day, but we sure enjoyed using the commercial facilities for a change! I’ll write up a blog post about this experience as soon as I get a chance.

I'm a creative old soul living way off the beaten path with my husband in the wild Ozark Mountains. Besides homesteading, growing plants & making crafty things and newsletters, I write books and stories. My rural fantasy fiction, written under the pen name, Ima Erthwitch, usually takes place in a much altered Ozarks.

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4 Replies to “Fairy Gardens and Mushrooms and Gallivanting Around the Woods”

You’re really diversifying, Madison. Good job with the art. Seems as though several of my blogging acquaintances are doing art. Maybe you’re trying to tell me something. 🙂 I’m heading up to Wyoming in just over a week and I can’t wait, although I’ll be mostly off-line there. Can’t wait!

Maybe it’s a good idea to try some more creative outlets from time to time 🙂 So far, none of mine are earning much income, but I am definitely enjoying stretching different sets of muscles. Have a great time in Wyoming! I’ll be looking forward to seeing your photos. And maybe some resulting art in addition to the photography 😉

I actually have on my list to take a sketch book and some pencils. Not sure if I have any drawing pencils anymore, but I’ll see. Right now, I’m stretching some sightly different muscle and using the Duolingo and Tiny Cards apps to learn a bit of French. I also got out the things to make some handmade cards again, something I haven’t done for years and years. Now I just have to get started again. 🙂